David wolfe brown



(No Model.) I 2 sheets-sheet 2.

D. W. BROWN.

GRAPHOPHONY. No. 424,956. PatentedApr. 8, 1890.

N, Pneus Pmomnognphur. wmingwn. n.1:

UNrrnD STATES PATENT' OFFICE.

DAVID VOLFE BROWN, OF VASIIINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

GRAPHOPHONY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,956, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed July 3, 1889. Serial No. 316,417. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID WoLFE BROWN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Recording and Reproducing Sounds, of which the following -is a specification.

My invention has reference to a novel method of recording sounds Jfor reproduction and of reproducing the recorded sounds.

It consists, broadly speaking, in producing the sound -record by vibrating a resonant impressible recordtablet by sound waves against a non-vibratory indenting or engraving stylus, and in reproducing the recorded sounds by vibrating the -record-tablet in accordance with the undulations of the record. This method is distinguished from the methods heretofore practiced, by which, in recording, the stylus was vibrated against the record surface, and in reproducing a diaphragm was vibrated by the record; and it is also distinguished from a method proposed, by which, in recording, the record-surface was Vibrated against the stylus by the intermediary ot a vibratory diaphragm, which was mechanically connected with the record-surface. By my process I dispense with a separate diaphragm altogether, and constitute the record-surface itself the diaphragm, against which the sounds to be` recorded are uttered, and from which the reproduced sounds proceed. By this method I avoid all lost motion, which is unavoidable by any of the old processes, and the sound-records produced are thus made more accurate delineations of the air-waves which accompany the utterance of sound, and the sounds reproduced from such record will more accurately represent the original sounds, and it' these sounds he those ot' articulate speech the voice ot the speaker will be more readily recognized. In addition thereto, by reason of the absence of all lost motion, the undulations on the recordline are more pronouncedy and the reproduced sound is more powerful than by the processes heretofore practiced.

The record-tablet employed for practicing my invention must be capable of vibrating under the impact of soundwavesthat is to say, it must be resonant-and the surface of the tablet must be of such character that it will receive and retain the impress of the recording-stylus, either as an indentation or as an engraving-that is to say, it must be impressible. vThe ordinary graphophone-tablet, consisting of a base of paper or card-board and an exposed surface of waxy material, fairly answers the requirementsv of my process; but I can use other tablets, so long as the same are made with a resonant and impressible surface.

I can practice my method in a great variety of ways and by apparatus-of the most diverse construction, and I am, therefore, not limited to the use of any particular machine, and more especially not to th'e use of the machines which I have illust-rated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this speciicai ion.

The machines thus illustrated are merely intended as specimens, and my invention is not dependent upon the use of any of them.

I have shown in Figure l a diagram illustrating the principle upon which my invention is based; in Fig. 2, alongitudinal section of a sou 11d-recording machine adapted to the practice of my process, the section being taken on line ou 0c of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 represents an end view of the apparatus shown in Fig. Fig. 4L- illustrates the support for the stylus, this view being a section on line y y of Fig. 2. FiO. 5 isa plan view of a portion of the support for the stylus. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the spring-lock of the support for one of the rotary heads of the cylindrical tablet used in this machine, and Fig. 7 shows a longitudinal section of a portion of a modiiied apparatus for practicing my invention.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts all throughout the drawings.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, the straight line l l represents a record-surface suitably prepared with a coating of wax or other impressible substance, adapted to be IOO indicated under the stylus 2, which latter is mounted on a Xed support 23, and is adjustable relatively to the tablet, so as to penetrate or indent the same to a eertain'depth. Thus it will be seen thatif the tabletis moved in the direction of the arrow with uniform speed the stylus will cut or indent into the surface of the same a smooth groove of even depth.

New, for recording sounds in accordance with my invention, l may use a speak ing-tube t with a flaringmouth-piece 5, into which latn ter the sounds to be recorded are uttered, and

the contracted end of the speaking-tube extends under the tablet, beneath the point where the stylus bears upon the same, and when sounds are uttered into the mouth-piece the air-waves are made to impinge against the tablet beneath the stylus, and a circumscribed portion of the tablet is set into violent vibration, whereby the prepared surface is caused alternately to approach to and recede from the point of the stylus, without, however, at any time entirely clearing the same. Thus an indented or engraved line of varying depth is produced upon the tablet, and this line, as is well understood by those skilledin the art, represents the soulul-record. This record will be the more accurate the less motion is lostthat is to say, the more nearly the undulations of depth of the record-line conform to the air-waves accompanying the utterance of soundand since bythe method which I have thus far described in a general way the sound-waves i mpinge d i rectly aga i ust the tablet without the intermediary of mechanical devices for transmitting the motion, no part of such motion is lost.

ln practice my invention may be carried into effect and will ordinarily be realized by means of an organized machine-such, for instance, as is shown in all its details in Fi L to G, inclusive. Referring now to these iigures of drawings, there will be seen mounted upon a base board or table a frame-work, consisting in the main of Yfour standards 7, S, il, and l0, the general outline of which is shown in Fig. 3. A screw-rod ll. l2, extending from one end of the machine to the other, has smooth bearings in the tops ofthe standards and the scre\v-thrc:uled portions are enveloped by sleeves 13 l-l, which are slotted longitudinally, as shown, substantially in the manner used in the ordinary graphophone. This construction is now so well known that no special description of the same is deemed necessary. The screw portion ll is engaged by a spring-actuated tooth V15, mounted in the upper end of an arm lo' and penetrating a semi-cylilulrical shell 17,P formed at the upper end of the arm lo, and to which another semicylindrical shell lS is hinged, as shown. The shell lS is provided with a weight l), which, when the two shells are made to embrace the sleeve 13, with the toot-h l5 engaging the `angular and threads of the screw ll, will keep the two portions '17 1S together.

The object of the construction so far described is to feed the arm lo along the screwrod ll when the latter is rotated; but any other means for accomplishing the same result may be used without departing from the principle of my invention. A structure similar in all respects to that mounted at the upper end of arm 1G is applied to an arm 20, which is fed along the screw 2, so that when the screw-rod ll l2 is rotated, as will hereinafter more fully appear, t-he two arms 1G and 20, with their al'npiurtenances, are fed along said screw-rod with the same speed, so that they will at all times be the same distance apart, it being understood that the two screws ll l2 have the sa-nle pitch. The arm 1G is formed at its lower end with a forked bracket 2122, through the upper prongI 2l of which loosely passes the screw-stem 253 of a stylus 2, the body of which is preferably made rectsnugly lits in a perforation formed in the prong 22 of the bracket, so as to be movable longitudinally therein.

Jam-nuts 2F 2U, applied to the screw-stem, are the means fol-adjusting the stylus up and down and l'or fixing it in any adjusted position. 1Where the lower prong of the bracket extends from the .body of the rod lo' there is formed a semieireular recess or notch, as shown in li'ig. et, and when the arm 1G is allowed to descend the notch formed in said arm receives and the arm rests upon a guiderod 27, extending between the standards i) l() and mounted upon suitable brackets 28 28, rising from said standards. A forked lever 29 is pivoted to the arm ld at the point where the upper prong 2l extends from the samcby screw-pivots 3U 30, and the forward free end of lever 2!) is formed into ahandlc, as shown, while above and below the pivot each branch of the forked lever is extended. The upper extensionsarebridgedbyapinSLwhile thelower extensions are shaped into hooks 32 32, which, when the lever 2.() is depressed in front, pass under the guide-rod 27, and iinally abut against laterally-projecting lugs l ll, formed one on each side of armv 'liti near or at the outer edge of the recesses above referred to. A spring ill, fixed to the upper edge of the arm .lli and bearing upon pin 3l, holds the lever 2&1 down with the ends of its hooks bearing upon the lugs 533, and this spring also holds the lever 2f) from accident-ally falling down when it has been turned up for the purpose of discngaging the guide-rod 27, in order to allow the arm lo to be raised from said guide-rod for the purpose of replacing the recordiiig-stylus by the reprmlucer, as is well understood. Vlirom the foregoing description it will be seen that when the arm l() rests with the notch near its lower end upon the guide-rod and the hooks l2 on the leverQl engage said guide-rod thearmwill be immovn ITO able about the screw-rod ll, and it will therefore not yield to the vibratory impacts of the tablet received by the stylus.

The standards 8 9 are provided with bearings for a sleeve 35, which terminates at one end in a head 36, adapted to receive a cylindrical tablet 37, which may be made of any suitable resonant material, and prepared for the reception of sound-records.

To the outer face of standard l0 is pivoted at 38 a lever 39, to which is secured a thimble 40, in which a cylindrical bearing-block 4l for the rotary head 42 is fitted for longitudinal movement therein. -From the bearingblock 4l extends a rod 43 through the thimble, and is provided at its free end with a knob 44 for drawing the bearing-block within the thimble against the action of a helical spring 45. The lever 39 is extended forwardly and downwardly, as shown at 46, beyond the point where the sleeve is attached thereto, and it has at its free end pivotedaforked lever 47, from which elastic hooks 48 48 extend downwardly for engagement with the suitably-shaped head of a casting 49, fixed to the base or table 6 of the machine. When the lever 39 is in the position indicated in the drawings, with its extension 46 resting upon the head of the casting 49, and the springhooks 48 48 engaging the under side of the head of said casting, the axis of the thimble 40 and rotary head 42 will be inline with the axis of sleeve 35 and head 36, so that if the cylindrical tablet 37 is clamped frictionally between the two heads and the sleeve 35 is rotated the tablet and head 42 will rotate with the same. If, however, the head 42 is drawn outwardly to disengage the tablet 37, and the lever 47 is turned upwardly to disengage the springhooks 48 from the head of the casting 49, the whole lever 39, with its attached thimble and head 42, may be turned upwardly out of the Way of the tablet, which may now be drawn from the head 36 in a straight line and removed from the machine.

To the free end of arm 2O is clamped in a socket 50, by the binding-screw 5l, a soundconveying tube 52, which extends through the sleeve 35 without vperceptible friction into the cylindrical tablet, wherein it is contracted and turned up, as shown at 53, terminating with its contracted open end within a short distance of the wall of the tablet just below the point where the stylus bears upon the outer surface of the same. A flexible speaking tube 4, provided with a iiaring mouth-piece 5, is inserted into the end of the sound`conveying tube 52, and the sounds to be recorded are uttered into this mouthpiece. A rotary shaft 54, having its bearings in standards 7, 8, and 9, has a pulley 55 keyed to it, to which pulley motion is given by a belt 56, or in any other suitable manner. To the shaft 54, between the standards 8 and 9, is also keyed a pinion 57, which meshes with a pinion 58, keyed to sleeve 35, and with ticing my invention is shown.

a gear-Wheel 59, keyed to the screw-rod 11 12, as shown. If now the shaft 54 is rotated, the screw-rod ll l2 and the tablet l will also be rotated, and the stylus willbe carried from one end of the tablet to the other by the arm 16, and at the same time the upturned open end 53 of the sound-conveying tube 52 will travel within the tablet also and with the same speed as the stylus from one end of the tablet to the other, since that tube 52 is rigidly connected with the traveling arm 20, as heretofore explained. Sounds uttered into the mouth-piece will thus be made to impinge against and set into vibration a circumscribed portion of the tablet in the immediate vicinity of the stylus, and the sound-record will thus be obtained in the manner described with reference to l.

From the description of the machine it will now be easily understood how a new tablet 'may be mounted and how the stylus may be adjusted with relation to the same.

In Fig. 7 a modified arrangement for prac- In this case the sleeve 35 serves as the sound-conveying tube, the speaking-tube being in this case supported upon a bracket 60, mounted upon the standard 8, the nozzle of the speakingtube being quite loose within the sleeve, so that the latter may rotate without twisting t-he speaking-tube and without impediment from the latter. It will be seen that in this modification of the machine used for the practice of my invention the screwA l2 and its appurtenances are dispensed with, and that the sounds entering the tablet do not vibrate a circumscribed portion of the same, but the whole tablet as one piece. While l have obtained excellent results by the use of a machine of this character, I prefer to concentrate the sound-waves at a circumscribed portion of the tablet, as described with reference to the other figures of the drawings.

In practicing the second part of my inventionnamely, the reproduction of recorded sounds-the stylus is moved to thebeginning Ico IIO

of the record in the ordinary manner, and is then adj usted to bear lightly upon the bottom of the record-groove. Ifk now the tablet is moved in the same manner and with the same speed as in recording, the stylus, bearing with variable pressure upon the tablet, will cause the same to vibrate in accordance with the undulations of the recordgroove, and sounds Will thus be emitted which will be accurate reproductions of the sounds which originally agitated the tablet for producing the record,

and these sounds may be heard by applying the ear to t-he flaring mouth-piece 5, which in this instance performs the function of an ear-piece; or a differently-shaped ear-piece or ear-pieces may be used, as is well understood by those skilled in the art.

If the machine represented in Figs. 2 to 6 be used for the reproduction of the recorded sounds, it is necessary that the contracted open end 53 of the sound-conveying tube 52 be moved with the stylus back to the beginning of the record-groove. This may be done either by turning the pulley 55 in the opposite direction from that in which it was moved when the record was being made, whereby the stylus and the open contracted end of the sound-conveying tube will retain their relative positions, or by proper manipulation of the lever 29 and the arm 1G the latter, together with its stylus, maybe freely moved back to the beginning of the recordgroove, with which the stylus is then made to engage, and the sound-conveying tube is moved back to its original position underneath the stylus by disengaging the tooth 15, which is clastieally seated in the end of arm 20, from the screw 12, and then moving the whole arm 20, with its attached sound-conveying tube, to its initial position. The disengaging of the tooth 15 from the screw 12 is effected by means of a button 15 from which a pin passing through a slot 20', formed in the arm 20, is connected with the stem of the tooth 15, as indicated in Fig. 2, and when this button 15 is drawn downwardly the tooth 15 disengages the screw 2 and the arm 20 can be moved loosely to any position upon the screw In order to bring the open contracted end of the sound-conveying tube to its proper position underneath the stylus a scale is marked on the sleeve 11, which corresponds with a similar scale marked on sleeve 13, as shown in Fig. Thus in a few seconds the apparatus is adjusted for reproduction. If now motion is given to the apparatus the same as in recordin g, the cylindrical tablet will be vibrated by the varying pressure with which the stylus bears upon the same and the greatest amplitude of vibration will be at and about the point where the stylus bears upon the tablet. The air-waves thus produced bythe tablet in the vicinity of the stylus will be received by the sound-conveyer and propagated to th'e Haring end of the same, where the ear is applied.

ln the modified form of apparatus shown in Fig. 7 no adjustment of the sound-conveyer is required for reproduction, as will new be readily understood.

From the foregoing description :it will be understood that while my novel method of recording and reproducing sounds consist-s of two steps intimately related to and generically dependent upon each other, they may nevertheless be practiced with some advantage independently of each other. Thus it is feasible to produce the record by the old method of vibrating a stylus against the record-surface, and then reproduce the recorded sounds by vibrating the record-surface in accordance with the undulations of the record; and it is also feasible to produce the record by the method herein described, and then reproduce the recorded sounds by vibrating a diaphragm in accordance with the undulatious of the record. I am therefore not confined to the practice of the two steps constituting my complete method in conjunction with each other, although for the attainment of the objects of my invention this is preferred.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consists in vibrating a resonant impressible surface against a recording-stylus by the direct impact of soundwaves, substantially as described.

2. The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consists in vibrating a resonant impressible surface against a non-vibratory recording-stylus by the direct impact of sound-waves, substantially as described.

The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consists in vibrating a circumscribed portion of a resonant impressiblc surface against a non-vibrating recordingstylus by the direct im pact of sound-waves, substantially as described.

1. The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consist-s in producing a groove of varying depth in the surface of a resonant impressible body by causing a progressive relative movement between the said body and a non-'vibratory stylus bearing upon the surface of said body and directing soundwaves against such body, substantially as dc scribed.

5. The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consists in producing a groove of varying depth in the surface of a resonant impressible body by causing a progressive relative movementbetween the said body and a non-vibratory stylus bearing upon the surface of said body and directing soundwaves against a circumscribed portion of such body, substantially as described.

t3. The method of recording sounds for reproduction, which consists in producing a groove of varying depth in the surface of a resonant impressible body by causing a progressive relative movement between the said body and a non-vibratory stylusbearing upon the surface of said body and directing soundwaves against such body in the vicinity of the point of the stylus, substantially as described.

7. The method of reproducing sounds from an undulatory record of such sounds, which consists in vibrating the record-tablet by and in accordance with the undulatious of said record, substantially as described.

S. The method of reproducing sounds from an undulatory sound-record upon a resonant body by causing a progressive relative movement between said body and a non-vibratory stylus bearing upon the undulatory record, and thereby vibrating said resonant body by and in accordance with the undulatious of said record, substantially as described.

9. The method of recording and reproduc- IOO IIO

ing sounds, which consists in rst vibrating In testimony whereof I have signed my a resonant mpressibie body against a nonname to this specification in the presence of 1o. vlbratory stylus by the direct impact of soundtwo subscribing' Witnesses.

waves upon said body, and thereby producing 5 a groove of varying depth in the same, and DAVID VOLFE BROWN.

then causing said body-to vibrate in accord- Witnesses: ance with the .varying depth of the record- JOS. FORREST,

groove, substantially as described. F. T. CHAPMAN. 

